


Snippets from Beach City

by Andauril



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Non-Chronological, One-Shots, maybe pairings to be added later, more characters to be added when i update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-07-28 16:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7648765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andauril/pseuds/Andauril
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Peridot tries eating.</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Push it in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot tries eating.

The object was vaguely disk shaped and circular, though curved upwards. And it smelled, and left reddish dust on her finger tips. 

“Uhm … and what I am supposed to do with it?” Peridot looked up from this new and strange object Amethyst seemed to have a whole container of. 

It didn’t look particularly useful to her. It was fragile and it’s surface to raw to store any sort of data on it. 

“It’s a chip, P-dot! You eat it!”

“Eat?” Peridot was not at all convinced. “This is ridiculous. Gems don’t need to eat. We receive all sustainment we need from our gems …”

“Yeah, sure.” Amethyst shrugged. “But it’s fun! See?” She picked one of the crispy disks from its container. “You just take it and …” Her last words were muffled and underlain with crumbling. “Push it in!” Some crumbs sprayed from her lips. 

“Uh, sure! Eating.” Peridot still didn’t understand the appeal this mundane activity had to Amethyst, but perhaps she would gain a better grasp on it if she tried it herself. 

So she did exactly that, and, in Amethyst’s words, “pushed it in”. At first it wasn’t as bad as she had expected. The taste was actually quite … interesting, and chewing was easy (although some these “chips” got stuck between her teeth, which was an annoyance; she didn’t understand why they were called chips anyway, they had nothing in common with actual chips used to store data on …) 

That was, until she tried to swallow the mash down. 

She coughed. The feeling in her throat was revolting and disturbing and … she could not breathe! She was going to suffocate! This at first quite interesting but now quite insidious mash of chewed “chips” was going to destroy her! 

Peridot clasped her throat. She had to expel it! She was entirely sure that was not where “food” was supposed to go! Humans didn’t choke on food, didn’t they? After all, these nourishments were supposed to sustain them, not kill them! 

“Peridot? You okay?”

Peridot tried to say something, but that disgusting mass of hackled “chips” cut off the words in her throat. Her words came out of as something that sounded suspiciously similar to the sounds these furry felines did sometimes in those videos Steven had shown her … 

Panicking, she pointed at her throat, then at the container of chips in Amethyst’s hand. 

Amethyst stared back, for a few moments obviously unsure what to make out of it. Then her vision spheres widened … and she threw herself at Peridot, with such force that she believed she would not only suffocate, but also shattered!

“What is this supposed to be!?” Peridot screamed, trying to scramble from under Amethyst, who was - of course - much heavier than her (she was a quartz after all). Mashed chips flew from her lips. 

Oh … 

“Sorry, dude, was the first thing I thought of.” Amethyst shrugged. 

“Well, maybe you should leave the thinking to me! I nearly poofed myself with your chips!” 

“Aww, P-dot, you’re a gem! You don’t need air, remember?” 

Peridot stared back at her, blinking. “Of course! I was only … surprised … by being so suddenly invaded by earth produce!” 

What did Earth do to her? Of course she couldn’t suffocate! Yes, the sensation had been highly unpleasant, but not dangerous. How had she not been able to realise that? Clearly there had to be something inside these “chips” that had clouded her judgement. 

Peridot looked down at the leftovers of her attempts to consume food. “How do you do it?”

“Eh, what?” Amethyst asked, in between two chips. 

“Eating! Chewing is easy and mundane, of course, but it seems to me that we are not built to digest such primitive …” She stopped. 

Oh. Of course. 

“Whatsup, Peri?” 

“Nothing! I just came to the conclusion that this”, she air quoted, “eating is beneath me.” 

“Sure. Seemed to like it, tho. Before you started choking.”

Peridot grinded her teeth. What was about this lying thing that made it so easy to everyone but her? 

“Why didn’t you say that you eat by  _ shapeshifting _ !”, she screamed, throwing her arms in the air. “You know I’m incapable of …”

Amethyst dropped the container of chips. “Uh … y’know, when I want to eat, it just happens. Guess I just … forgot.”

“You forgot?” Peridot took a deep breath. Not that she needed to, but its effect was … calming. 

“Peri, I really didn’t want to hurt you or something …” Amethyst bit her bottom lip. “I just wanted us to have some fun. I didn’t know you can’t do it!”

Peridot considered this. If “eating” was something Amethyst didn’t even think about, maybe she would concede her point. Considering how fond she was of it, it was likely she had began adapting her physical form to it long ago. 

“Accepted.” 

“Uhm … hey! Wanna decide what we do next?” 

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Entering Code

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl makes a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after "Last One Out of Beach City", I just had to write this down. Spoilers for the episode, obviously!

She could do this. It was just a series of numbers! Nothing complicated at all. All she had to was type them into the cellphone - which felt oddly heavy in her grip right now, however  _ that  _ had happened - and  _ talk.  _ She could do both. 

It was so easy.

So why made the mere thought of it make her nervous? 

Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. Stars, what was she even thinking? She couldn’t just call this human she barely even knew and had just exchanged a couple of words with! Surely the girl had already forgotten who she was and would be utterly annoyed to be called by some stranger! 

What had gotten into her to even  _ think  _ about doing such a thing? This was ridiculous and would lead to nothing. She would just make a fool of herself. What was she even supposed to say? It was not as though she had much experience calling someone on the phone. (Human technology was so primitive.) 

Just as Pearl was about to sit the cellphone down, a voice behind her called: “Yo, Pearl!”

The phone nearly slipped her grasp. “Amethyst! Do you have to sneak up on me like that?” 

“No, but I want to. So, are you gonna call her or what?” 

“I have no idea what you …” 

“Yeah, so you just stole Steven’s phone to play with it, right?”

Before Pearl could even answer, Steven’s head peaked down from above and into the kitchen. “Yeah?” 

“Pearl wants to call mystery girl!” 

“I did not! I was … holding this for you!” Pearl felt her cheeks heat up with a deep blue. 

“C’mon, Pearl! It’s okay if you want to call her! Me and Amethyst, we’re both here for you! You can do it!”

“Yeah! Do it! Do it! Do it!” 

“Do you really think I should? She probably already has forgotten about me!”

“She gave you her phone number, so she wants you to call her!”

“Call her! Call her! Call her!” 

Pearl sighed. Somehow, this wasn’t really helping at all. It was sweet of Steven to encourage her, and even Amethyst’s enthusiastically cheering her on was less bothersome when usually, but … It was not as though this was easy! She wasn’t exactly an expert on human conversation. 

She wished she could be as bold as she’d been that other night. Maybe, if the girl were here right now, it would be different. But somehow not being able to see her face made it difficult …

And now, that she was home, in the kitchen, the mere thought of calling this girl just seemed insane to her. 

“Pearl. Go for it.” 

As if Steven and Amethyst weren’t enough, Garnet had just entered the kitchen. 

“What … I didn’t even say …”

“Didn’t have to.” Garnet leaned on the counter, arms crossed before her chest. 

“But what if …”

“I see several possible futures where she will be happy you called her …”

“Oh! That’s good!” Now her cheeks were all blue and hot again.

“... and some where she just hangs up the phone.”

“This is a terrible idea! What am I even thinking?” 

“But they’re really unlikely, so you should definitely call her.”

Pearl swallowed (despite not needing to), and took a deep breath (which she also didn’t have to, but it somehow calmed her). Alright. She could do it. Of course there was no guarantee, there never was. But she’d been bold that night. And she was a rebel. She’d been a rebel for 6000 years now. 

It was just a phone call. Not difficult at all. And she wanted to talk to the girl again. 

Her fingers were slightly shaking while she typed the number, and held the phone to her ear. 

For a terribly long while, all she heard was touting, but then, suddenly, a voice said:

“Hello.” 

“Hello! Here is Pearl. We met at the Mike Krol concert the other night. You gave me your number.” 

For another terrible moment, there was silence. Then: “Hey, Pearl! Was starting to worry you’d thrown that number in the trash. Nice to hear from you.” 

Pearl’s entire face went blue and hot. Again. 

 


End file.
